“I think Ellen will b a great judge on Idol,” she Twittered Thursday. “She is wildly funny, talented and I wish her the best of luck!”

Former judge, Paula Abdul, abruptly announced she would not be returning to the show on her Twitter page back in August. It is said to have been due to contract negotiations. Paula felt she deserved more money than what AI was offering. In an interview with Ryan Seacrest, Ellen promises to be the “honest” judge who will “bring compassion” to the show. In addition, she intends to keep fellow judge Simon Cowell in check.

“I’ll tell him the same thing I tell him when he’s on my show — that he’s mean,” she said. “You can be constructive, and you can criticize someone in a way that’s helpful and not mean-spirited.”

Ellen, 51, will begin her stint after the audition rounds, which will feature a rotating group of celebrity guest judges including Shania Twain, Victoria Beckham, Mary J. Blige, Joe Jonas and Kristin Chenoweth.

Ellen also confirmed the announcement at her talk show taping Wednesday, “I’m going to have a day job and a night job,” assuring her audience that The Ellen DeGeneres Show will continue. “This is so exciting for me.”

Former judge, Paula Abdul, abruptly announced she would not be returning to the show on her Twitter page back in August. It is said to have been due to contract negotiations. Paula felt she deserved more money than what AI was offering.

Simon says, he doesn’t want to “get in the middle” of Idol execs and Paula but definitely misses her being on the show. He also believes Paula will always be able to find work.

So what’s next for Paula?

“I definitely want to do a talk show because it would be different,” says Abdul, who has shot a guest role on Lifetime’s Drop Dead Diva and will host VH1’s Divas Live Sept. 17. “It would be a lot of fun variety with a ton of unexpected stuff and tributes to everyday people getting their big chance.”

Even though Paula Abdul is leaving the show, American Idolwill still have four judges, Fox chairman Peter Rice told the FOX Television Critics Association on Thursday.

“There is going to be a search,” he said. The search is for a permanent replacement, while there will be guest judges taking her place during the auditions.

According to Peter, the producers “were hoping” Abdul would come back. “We love Paula. She’s been a really wonderful part of the show for eight years.”

Sources say that Paula asked for a $20 million deal which producers were unwilling to meet. She also rejected a thirty percent raise.

According to FOX, guest judges including Victoria Beckham and Katy Perry will join Simon Cowell, Randy Jackson and Kara DioGuardi in the seven weeks of audition rounds, which starts Friday in Denver.

“We’ll have these guest judges do one week each during the audition [period]… there is no thought right now that any of these judges will be long term judge for us,” Rice said. “All of the people we are talking to have successful careers. I don’t even think they’d be available to judge full-time. We have now until January to introduce a new energy to the panel.”

There are also rumors that Kandi Burruss of The Real Housewives of Atlanta is being considered as a judge, but those are simply rumors for now.

American Idol judge Kara DioGuardi weds contractor boyfriend, Mike McCuddy after dating for a year and a half in Prospect Harbor, Maine, according to Usmagazine.com. McCuddy proposed on Dec. 8, 2008 on DioGuardi’s 38th birthday.

The ceremony was attended by very close friends and family members. There were no idol judges present. “They are absolutely in love with each other,” Pastor Nurse tells Us. “When I told him he could kiss the bride, everybody cheered. It was a very close, small family-type service.”

The newly married AI judge will return for season nine of American idol with Simon Cowell, Paula Abdul, Randy Jackson and Ryan Seacrest later this summer.

Among DioGuardi’s hits have been “I Do Not Hook Up,” with Kelly Clarkson; “Ain’t No Other Man,” with Christina Aguilera; and “Pieces of Me,” with Ashlee Simspon-Wentz. DioGuardi, a talented songwriter is expected to work with Rascal Flatts and Little Big Town in August.

In a recent interview with David Letterman, Paula Abdul says she loves her job on American Idol but she is not certain that she will be returning for another season. “I never said [I wasn’t returning]. I just said that I’m not sure,” Abdul said cryptically.

“It’s called, um, ‘negotiating’,” she joked.

Letterman shared his own personal experience dealing with network suits and advised Abdul to be careful. “One time, I tried that, I was coming up to the end of a contract, and I said, ‘I don’t know, maybe I won’t come back,’ and they said, ‘Fine because we’ve got another guy ready to go’,” cracked the 62 year-old late night host.

Abdul was asked about her relationship with co-host Kara DioGuardi. “Kara’s great,” Abdul told Letterman. “I don’t understand why they do this to women; they love to pit women against each other. Maybe because it’s sexier, I don’t know. Maybe mud wrestling, the whole thing.”

In a recent interview with Jay Leno, the newest American Idol winner, Kris Allen, said he was advised by both Simon Cowell and wife Katy to keep his marriage a secret. The rationale was that if some viewers knew he was married, it could affect his votes on the show. Obviously, they were wrong.

Both Allen and Katy have been married since last year September. I just hope they are both ready for stardom.

Allen also says that not only is Adam Lambert gifted but he is also one of the best performers to grace the Idol stage. Allen looks forward to working with Lambert in the future. I personally love Allen’s style of music and can’t wait for him to work on his album.

On Monday, the three American Idol finalists took the stage to perform live for the nation. As usual, these three contestants will sing their hearts out thriving to get America’s vote and moving on to the next week. They had to sing two songs, one chosen by the judge and the other a personal choice. The last three are AdamLambert, Danny Gokey and Kris Allen.

Gokey chose to sing “Dance Little Sister” by Terrance Trent D’arby – Paula Abdul’s selection for him. Paula thought he did a great job while Simon said the dancing was somewhat desperate. Jackson thought the performance was energetic while Kara said the performance was not memorable. Gokey’s personal choice was “You Are So Beautiful” by Joe Cocker.

Allen followed Gokey by singing “Apologize” by one Republic which was chosen by Randy and Kara. I thought Kris performed extremely well but the judges and you viewers have the final say. Kara said she wanted more from the performance while Simon criticized her for the choice of song.Paula said she was proud of him despite the error he made. Allen’s choice for the night was a different and enjoyable version of – Heartless by Kanye West! All judges had nothing but praises after the performance.

Adam sang “One”-Cowell got special permission from Bono and U2 for the song. Adam totally changed the version of the song. Kara thought the performance was unbelievable while Paula calls him the American idol which Simon agrees. Randy said “Adam is in the zone”. Cowell was convinced that Adam will be in the finale.Adam’s personal choice was an Aerosmith song. Kara was also convinced he will be in the finale.

Following the elimination of Danny Gokey, leaving two idol contestants to sing it out. As we count the days to the finale, who will be the next American idol. Stay tuned!

Kara DioGuardi is confirming her time is up as a judge on American Idol after this season. The reason being that Kara only signed on to do one season.

Kara tells TV Guide “I’m only here for one season,” she says. “That’s what we’ve discussed. So we’ll see what happens. Hopefully they’ll keep me on.”

Simon Cowell was also asked on whether or not Kara would be back next season, he said, “I would imagine so, but the only say I have is about Ryan, Randy and Paula. I’ve always made it clear that I wouldn’t like to do the show without them. So that’s all I’m really concerned about.” Interesting comment by Simon, it might be safe to say Kara won’t be coming back next season.

In what could be the biggest spoiler in the history of American Idol, an Apple glitch occured this week that revealed which contestants are selling the most “Idol” downloads on Itunes.

The Producers for AI never wanted anyone to know which contestants are selling the most downloads on iTunes, believing it might spoil the results of the show or favor one contestant over another. They had always requested secrecy of the Idol sales from Itunes.

So who is the favorite to win it all according to ITUNES?

The NYPost reports Adam Lambert is in the lead, taking six of the top 10 spots on the Idol list. His rendition of “Mad World,” which earned him a standing ovation from Simon Cowell, and is No. 1 spot on the secret chart.

The big shock in all of this is the fact that the favorite to win it all Danny Gokey is coming in 3rd with only 1 of his songs being in the top 10. Kris Allen is actually in 2nd place, having 3 of his songs in the top 10.

Only time will tell if these Itunes sales will reflect the winner of the show.